All Aboard
by jellyheart84
Summary: Swan Queen. Regina goes aboard the Jolly Roger Ship to help Emma find Henry, but not before a little tete-a-tete on a bench.
1. Chapter 1

Neal had disappeared with Henry to Neverland.  
Emma didn't want to jump to conclusions. But she didn't want Henry in another realm without her, or cellphone reception. Neither did Snow or David, who had begged and pleaded with Captain Hook to take them, on his ship, to the dimension they had until now only heard of.  
He'd agreed, over an hour ago. Had heaved up the anchor, had directed Emma and Charming in battening down the hatches and putting up the sails. Contrary to all physics, the ship was firmly lodged in the harbor as ever. Captain Hook walked the planks of the deck, his brow furrowed, clenching and unclenching his hands, his boots making a sharp tck tck tck, his expression mildly embarrassed.

"You see before, I was with Cora, who is magic. It was she who opened up a portal into your realm and, I'm starting to fear, made this vessel sail."

"No kidding." Emma said gruffly, and shot a glance at Snow. "We need Regina. And it's only fair we tell her Neal took Henry."

Snow's brow furrowed. "I don't think Regina is in any mood to help me."

"This isn't about you." Emma had trouble keeping her words low. "This is about Henry."

Snow nodded and Emma scrolled to Regina's number on her phone. "Regina, it's me, can you meet me down by the pier?"

* * *

She waited on the bench with hands clenched. Across the street she saw the Benz park and the dark-haired woman step out in a fluid motion, her dark eyes stormy even at a distance, her rigid posture reminding Emma of nothing so much as a pissed off ballerina. Regina approached the bench with an acid smile spreading across her face, her eyes still wary and distant. Emma patted the spot next to her, Regina sat down so close their knees touched.

"Don't get mad at me." Emma put her hands up. "I need you to stay calm until I finish talking."

"I like where this is going." Regina said sarcastically.

"Neal took Henry to Neverland. I think."

"You think? YOU THINK?"

"I'm pretty sure."

It was clear Regina was furious but her panic over Henry calmed Emma in a way Snow and Charming's vague, sad flutterings had not. Regina's panic matched hers and Regina, she was confident, would focus on a solution, not emoting, as Snow was wont to do.

"I asked you once if I had anything to worry about from Henry's biological dad-"

"I know. Believe me, if I could have prevented bringing him back into Henry's life-I know he won't hurt him, I think he just didn't know how to ask us or- you know how Henry is he gets….smitten by the idea of someone new."

Regina looked at her with appreciation for admitting she was going through what Regina had already dealt with: Henry's childish and often hurtful favoritism. Regina looked in Emma's eyes. "So what do we do?"

"We thought we could use Hook's ship to get to Neverland. But Hook doesn't know how to make it sail without Cora."

"I see." Regina raised a manicured eyebrow. "He is, after all, essentially a goth skipper, so that makes sense."

"Will you help us?"

"I will always do anything to help Henry. You know that, Miss Swan." Regina answered. Emma put a hand on Regina's dark glove.

"Thank you."

Regina paced the deck, whisking her hand one way to unfurl the topmost sails that David and Emma hadn't been able to reach. Her face took on a look of intense concentration and she sent a bolt of purple lighting to the steering wheel: incredibly, it bounced back in a green flare as though deflected by some unseen field.

"My mother Cora cursed this ship. After Hook took it to New York, she must have decided she didn't want him- or Mr. Gold- taking anymore joyrides."

"Can you break it?" Snow asked pitifully, stepping from behind David.

"My mother was an extremely powerful and learned sorceress. I'm not adept enough to break her spells. It's a tragedy she's not here right now or we wouldn't be facing this calamity-"

Emma stepped between them and walked over to Regina, making steady eye contact. She could tell Regina's short temper was warming to the personal tragedy she'd recently experienced, watching her own mother die in her arms.

"Please Regina-" Emma put a hand on the furious woman's shoulder. "I know this is incredibly hard."

Regina's eyes locked with Emma's and the boat moved underfoot.

"Did you feel that?!" David cried, moving to the side rail. "The curse must have been broken somehow-"

Regina turned to the steering wheel. Unspoken, they all thought of the one thing powerful enough to break any curse. "Well then, I suppose we're off." her eyes cut to Captain Hook, who stood warily a few feet from her. "Unless you want to change out of that insane leather dress and black blouse before we hit the open seas. We're headed for Neverland, not a Renaissance Faire."

"A what?" Hook asked, puzzled, and Emma suppressed a smile.

To Be Continued


	2. Chapter 2

Captain Hook lowered the pan pipes from his lips, the last notes of a sea chanty lingering in the air, his eyes soft. Leaning against the starboard side of the boat, Emma was staring off into middle distance, watching purple magicked clouds swirl around the water and veil the stars like fog.

"Can I play you anything?" Captain Hook called to her. Emma looked over, surprised, and he raised his pipes in salute and for display. Emma pulled out an earbud. "I'm sorry, what?"

Hook sauntered over to her, his eyes flashing, emphasized by the thick freshly-applied kohl he carried with him at all times in his bodkin. "You miss him, don't you?"

"Henry? Of course. I can't sleep worrying about him. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really cut out to be a mom. Regina made it all look so easy-"

"No, I mean Neal."

"Neal?" Emma looked genuinely puzzled. "Sorry buddy, you're way off base there. Of course, I can't wait to see him- and wring his neck for taking off with Henry without telling me." She shook her head. "I would have thought 10 years would have matured him a little, but talk about a guy with Peter Pan syndrome."

"What syndrome!?" Hook looked alarmed.

Emma was already putting her earbud back in. Hook's hand fell on her shoulder, and he stepped closer to her.

"The sea whispers her secrets to us all. Out here we feel our most alone. And our closest together. Guided by the stars above we look upon our choices made on land and see them shift. Tis a beautiful thing, the sea change we-"

"Oh Captain-" Regina stood above them on the steering platform, her hands at her hips. "Would you mind taking a turn at the steering wheel? I didn't want to interrupt your conversation, but as it sounds like you're just reading aloud from the back of a douche box, I might as well take a break."

Hook made a small swallowing motion and nodded.

"Second star to the right and straight on til morning." Regina called up to him. "Even an idiot could do it." She looked at Emma, her eyes weary "Even him." Emma took a step forward and said to her, "Or maybe we should just lash the wheel in place with a rope?"

"Please,I could steer this ship one handed!" Hook called, and then laughed a high, whinnying laugh at his own joke.

Emma and Regina shared a laugh and rolled their eyes, leaning into each other a little as they leaned side by side against the boat, the spray of the waves kissing at their faces.

"Still awake, Miss Swan?" Regina said at last, staring straight into the night.

"I couldn't sleep. I keep thinking about Henry, why he ran off like that. One minute we're laughing at Granny's the next minute I realize he's taken his backpack with him to the bathroom. I just…" she sighed and put her face in her hands. "Sometimes I wonder if I know what I'm doing at all with him."

"I am pretty sure all kids are hard, but Henry in particular is a wily one." Regina's voice was smooth and controlled, but her eyes were pierced through with pain. "He's a little bit of an adventurer. I've tried to learn to not take it personally. And to be encouraged by how self-sufficient and independent he is. How many kids could navigate public transportation from Maine to Boston on a man hunt?"

Emma smiled. "That night must have been so hard for you." She murmured at last.

"And every night since." Regina said couldn't restrain herself from putting an arm around the darkhaired woman's shoulders. Regina tensed at first, peering at Emma out the side of her large, thickly lashed eyes.

"Cold?" she said at last.

"No." Emma sighed. "I'm just glad I'm not alone in this."


	3. Chapter 3

The bunk was creaking below deck on the Jolly Roger despite the calm sea. Snow was rifling through her backpack for her kindle, which she had covertly gone home and stocked with books while Emma and Regina chatted, planning to stay out of Regina's line of fire until they reached Netherland.

"Where did that thing go?" she muttered to herself, flipping over the burlap sack of hay that passed for a mattress seaside. Charming called from the bathroom.

"What's that darling?"

"I can't find my Kindle."

With a booming flush, Charming exited the bathroom, holding her Kindle in an outstretched hand, a smug smile on his face. "Oh, you mean this?"

"You…you found it!" Snow felt her eyes fill with grateful tears.

"Did you ever doubt I would?" he smiled, but before he could even finish the sentence Snow had burrowed into her mattress and was flicking her finger across the small screen. Puzzled, her finger moved back and forth, trying to find her place.

"Have you been reading this..?" Snow's voice was small, her cheeks red as blood.

"Mmmmaybe." he sauntered over and sat down heavily next to Snow, peering over her shoulder. "It was just getting good: 'Christian slipped his silk tie over my wrists, his gray eyes sweeping over my naked-'" he read aloud.

Snow flipped the tablet over. "Charming, I can't believe you went through my Kindle, that's _extremely _rude. You brought your own reading materials-" she gestured to a pile of colorful Highlights magazines "and I don't go reading through them or solving all the mazes before you get to look at them."

"Aw, come on Snow." He nuzzled her shoulder with his nose. "That dark heart of yours wants a turn in the bedroom, methinks. Maybe I can oblige you."

Snow shot out of the room, huffing.

* * *

Above deck, Regina and Emma were still talking, comparing notes on Henry- his reaction to Neal, and Neal's girlfriend Tamara.

"I mean, I don't have anything against Tamara, she seems nice enough. I just don't know if Henry needs more parent figures right now. Two moms should be enough for anyone."

"Neal, right." Regina groaned. "What public bathroom floor did you scrape him off of? He's like someone crossed a hobbit and a hobo. Although considering what used to look like I guess we should just be grateful Henry wasn't born with webbed hands…" she raised an eyebrow at Emma. "Was he?"

"Har har har." Emma said, in part to mask the fact she was trying not to actually laugh. "I met Neal when I was very young and impressionable and confused. We rambled around in my bug for a while and-"

"18 and living in an old car with your boyfriend. Glamorous. Then what happened? He took off when he found out you were pregnant?" Regina looked vaguely amused. Emma's face darkened.

"No. He framed me for stealing some watches and took off before he found out. I…had Henry in jail. " She looked in Regina's eyes, feeling deeply, deeply vulnerable, knowing one laugh from Regina would send her down below decks for the rest of the trip.

But it wasn't contempt in Regina's face, it was hot devouring fury, her beautiful face flaring with one of the intense rages that seemed to take her over completely. "To hell with him, do you hear me Emma? You and Henry deserved so much better. Neal had everything and he threw it away. So, to hell with him."

Emma suppressed a smile that twitched the side of her mouth, turning her face away before Regina could see the tears in her eyes. "Yeah, that's sort of what I figure. I don't think we owe him anything where Henry is concerned."

Regina's hand rested on Emma's, squeezing it tightly. "If you want me to pull his heart out-"

"No no." Emma laughed. "I can forgive. I can't forget, but I can forgive."

Regina looked at her, her eyes very soft. "Even me?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Hoping to wrap this up in 6 chapters. Thanks for all the positive reviews, I almost deleted after I put up but your kind comments really turned me around & now I'm excited about it. Its basically how I hope the next episode goes: Neal disappears and Swan Queen sets sail!**

* * *

Snow crept down the stair that lead to the lowest deck, looking for somewhere she could sit until she was done feeling embarrassed. Barrels of meal, bags of potatoes and old wooden cages-lobster traps?- were piled in the close quarters below water level. She stood on tip toe to light a rusted lantern tied to one of the supports, trying not to let the creaking of the ship make her feel too enclosed. As the light flickered on, she caught a dark eye in the distance, and almost screamed.

Mr. Gold ran to her and clapped a hand over her mouth before she could run back up the stairs.

"Now now, it's only me dear." He backed away from her when he was sure she would be quiet. "No need to alert the crew."

"What are you doing here?"

"My son takes off with my grandson and, what, I'm supposed to stay polishing my trinkets in my pawn shop? No." Mr. Gold shook his head, his eyes dangerous. "I've got reason to believe Hook won't treat Bae any better than he treated me." He gestured to his bandaged shoulder. " Unfortunately, I'm still not as strong as I need to be to confront him-"

"You think Hook would hurt Bae? Boy? Bye? What are you saying? I assume you mean Neal. Why?" Snow peered in his eyes.

"Bae spent some time in Neverland. When Emma and I were in his apartment I came across a pair of green tights and a little green cap with a red feather in it…" Mr. Gold shook his head. "It gave me a terrible feeling. But listen, you must keep my secret Snow. I must stay a Stowaway until I'm a little stronger and can meet Hook on an even playing field-"

"You're going to kill him, aren't you?" Snow's eyes grew hard. "Sorry, but I'm not doing your dirty work anymore, Mr. Gold-" and before he protest, she gave him an abrupt, uncharacteristic shove and shot back up the stairs, her heart racing in her throat.

* * *

Snow hurried across the deck. The stars were so bright the starlight painted the deck in broad strokes of palest blue. Emma and Regina appeared to be laughing together about something. Snow felt her courage wilt.

"Emma." She called from a few feet away. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Aww, what's the matter? Afraid to come near me?" Regina hissed, her eyes sparkling with a thin veneer of wicked fun over a depth of pure hate. " Not so tough without your tacky two-tone magical candle, are you?"

Emma cut a reproving glance at Regina, earning her a sneer from the brunette, and crossed over to her mom. Snow was trembling head to toe. "Mr. Gold is here. On board." She whispered, her eyes huge. "Also, I just- I pushed him really hard. I just wasn't even thinking and-"

"You mean like when you slapped Geppetto straight across the face the other day?" Emma felt the corner of her mouth jerk upwards at the memory. "I'm starting to think you might have a bit of a rage problem."

"It's my heart. Snow clasped her gloved hands over the fuzzy white coat she wore. "My heart is going black and there's nothing I can do about it. I let darkness into my heart and now it's taking over."

Emma rolled her eyes, remembering the week Snow spent sulking in bed listening to "Criminal" on repeat. "You need to let that go. People's hearts don't literally go dark, Snow. We're faced with choices and we do the best we can each time and-"

"Oh no, it's quite literally going dark." Regina strutted over, shaking her hair away from her face. "Like a rotten tooth or a chocolate chip cookie made with evil instead of chocolate." She put a hand on her hip and leaned toward Snow, enjoying the smaller woman's discomfiture. "Soon Snow will be graduating from slapping old men in the woods to wearing chinchilla fur coats. If she hasn't already." Regina's black glove pulled down the collar of Snow's coat to reveal a glossy fur scarf.

"Oh my. rabbit fur!" Regina purred. "Feels nice, doesn't it? Feels…wicked."

Snow's eyes filled with tears. "This isn't about me, this is actually important. Emma- I need to speak with you below decks at once."

Emma looked at Regina. She felt torn at having to leave Regina just when it was starting to feel like a conversation between friends and her hurt on Snow's behalf. "Can we pick this up later?"

"Whatever. I better relieve Hook at the wheel anyway." she stalked off, leaving Emma to feel that mixture of delayed gratification and the urge to shout "wait just a minute" after her that seemed to accompany all their goodbyes.


	5. Chapter 5

"I don't know. Maybe I should just kill her." Snow sighed, then gasped, slapping her hand over her mouth. "What am I saying?! I would never kill Regina. _Never_- I just-"

Emma looked at her mother, horrified. She was sitting across from her dad and Mr. Gold, who Snow insisted on sneaking up from below decks into their berth to re-bandage his shoulder, apologizing the entire time for shoving him. Now she's talking homicide. Well, regicide.

"Do you know how to keep a heart from going dark?" Emma turned to Gold. If Snow tries to kill Regina, she'll be caught up in a fist fight with her mom. And there's no way to win one of those.

Mr. Gold thought for a moment, leaning onto his cane. "I learned from Belle that my darkness started going away when I opened my heart to love. When I let myself believe that she could actually love me."

"Well, believe this: You have all the love in the world right across from you." James whispers to his wife, who gives him a wan smile. "Any way you want it. Ties, ropes, whips, cuffs-"

"What if I just snap ? What if I just snowball into this other person- this dark, awful person- just like her?!" Snow was genuinely frightened.

"She's really not that awful." Emma found her voice coming out louder than she expected, and the shocked faces of her parents made her cheeks burn, but she kept talking. "You asked her to kill you, you said, and she refused."

"Because she wanted this to happen to me!" Snow cried, pointing to her rabbit fur scarf. "I'm becoming a monster!"

"I know she's good deep down. I saw her face when the curse broke. She was ecstatic. All she cared about was that Henry was okay. And she saved our lives back at the well-"

"Maybe we could leave her in Neverland and then I wouldn't feel tempted to kill her?!" Snow asked Mr. Gold. Emma sighed with frustration and left the room, slamming the door behind her.

As Emma walked out on the deck again, the sight of Regina, her small but rigidly upright frame at the steering wheel ,touched her deeply. She walked up the stairs behind her and whispered a little "Hi."

"Miss Swan. Come to keep me company?"

"I'd hate if you fell asleep at the wheel. Har har."

Regina looked at her, her eyes almost lost in the darkness, but with a discerning gaze. "And something else. Something to do with Snow."

"You're right, she is going dark. Apparently she has been doing these weird things that just aren't her. Like wearing fur and… getting interested in BDSM?"

Regina's smile is huge. "That does sort of come with the territory."

"I'm afraid I'm going to lose her. That she'll do something she'll truly regret…I mean, aren't you scared?"

"Me? Scared of Snow attacking me? Is a chainsaw scared of a mouse? "

"Yikes. I get your point. So what, if she attacked you-"

"Then you'd be exactly where I am now: mourning the loss of the mother you never got to really know." Her words are steely. Emma walks so she's directly in front of her and locks eyes.

"Then I have no choice. I have to be your bodyguard."

Regina's eyebrow goes up. "I just told you, I don't need a bodyguard."

"To protect Snow." Emma almost believes it, her tone is so confident. "She's a loose cannon right now and if you're going to end her if she comes for you, then I just have to be the wall between you both. So I'm not letting you out of my sight until we get back to Storybrooke."

"You have to sleep sometime, Miss Swan." Regina's voice is curious.

"Yeah- right next to you."

"And perhaps there be room for three, me hearties?" came a low chuckle. Emma turned to see Hook, sitting on a treasure trunk near the prow, a coy smile on his face, playing with the corset ties on his black lacy blouse. Emma took made an aggressive stomping gesture toward him and he ran off into the night.

"See?" Emma turned to look at Regina. "Bodyguarding: I'm a natural."

* * *

Hook was flying down the hall still a little scared that Emma would chase after him when Snow stepped out into the passageway, and seeing him slammed the door behind her.

"Hook! You startled me."

"Sorry about that, Princess." He leaned an arm up against the hall and caught his breath, appraising the small woman.

"How long do you think it will be before we get there?"

"We should sail straight on 'til morning. Get there around dawn."

"Right, of course. I think James and I are going to go to bed early."

"Oh yeah?" he held up a kindle, its screen glowing. "Is this yours by the way? I found it down below decks when I went to have my pirate dinner of a raw potato dunked in beer."

"That sounds terrible but yes it is, thanks." She took the kindle, there were fingerprints across its screen. "Were you…were you reading this by any chance."

"Madam, your secret is safe with me." He said in a throaty whisper. "And if you can't tell from my leathery ensemble, if you're itching to try any of those little stunts I'll be in my Captain's quarters."

A wicked gleam sparkled in Snow's eye. "Oh really?" she raised an eyebrow. "Then how about I'll meet you there at midnight?"

Hook kissed her hand with a flourish. "My lady, I await the hour breathlessly."

Snow leaned against her door once she got inside, her jaw dropped, and covered her face with her hands. "Bad Dark Snow! BAD!" she whispered frantically.

"Something the matter dear?" said James, Mr. Gold also looking inquisitive.

"N-nothing." Snow gulped.


	6. Chapter 6

Regina looked over her shoulder as she walked down to her bunk. Hook had taken over for her so she could get some sleep and Emma was following just a few steps behind her. Regina put up an eyebrow as the tall woman followed her into her small quarters. The planks of the room creaked, the floor swayed, and the deep cot against one wall barely had space for one on its straw-stuffed mattress.

"You can't be serious." Regina said, turning nose to nose with Emma. Emma crossed her arms.

"Try me. There's nothing I won't do to keep between you and Mary Margaret."

Regina shrugged, taking off her trenchcoat to reveal a dark silk dress. "Suit yourself." Regina said, pulling the dress over her head. Emma's draw dropped at the short slip, lacy panties and thigh-high stockings topped with lace.

"THAT'S what you've been wearing all day under your clothes?!" Emma gasped. "Silk lingerie?!"

"What else?" Regina looked genuinely puzzled, and reached a finger to pluck at Emma's red jacket. "What have you got on under your get up? Potato sacks?"

Emma turned, her cheeks bright pink, pulling off her peacoat but leaving the rest of her clothes in place.

"So shy, Miss Swan. Why, I remember when you answered your hotel door in nothing but lacy red underpants when I came to offer you some juicy honey crisp apples." Regina said, crossing her arms. Emma looked up, then down, then almost put her fists over her eyes. She was going to get down and start bawling at how fantastic Regina looked in her ridiculously sexy underthings.

Regina slinked onto the straw mattress. Emma crawled next to her, barely able to breathe.

"You know, you could just stand by the door." Regina said acidly.

"I'm tired." Emma was tired. She turned on her side and balled up.

"You don't snore, do you?" Regina asked sleepily, throwing an olive forearm over her eyes. "Oh, and be a dear and get the light?" Emma hopped out of bed and twisted a screw in the hurricane latern flickering by the door. Immediately the room was pitch black. She put out a hand to find her way back bedside and felt a silky fullness under her hand, pulling it back as though it were on fire.

"Copping a feel, Sheriff!?" Regina cried- did Emma detect a note of triumph? Is that was this was between them- a contest to see who could crack first and admit they wanted the other one? If that was the case, maybe…maybe…she thought of kissing Henry, all those months ago. How revealing her true feelings had won her more than her son back, but their entire family. She took to one knee and could make out Regina's face in the dark. Regina was holding perfectly still as Emma leaned in, her heart racing, ready to kiss those perfect lips. Suddenly the door flew open, a lit lantern swinging into the room and breaking the spell, James in mid-sentence.

"Regina, what have you done with Snow!? Where is she?!"

"It's called knocking, you sheep-keeping oaf-" Regina started, but James wasn't listening. He looked from Regina, in her satin and lace to his daughter, who kneeling reverently on the cot, fairly on top of Regina, one hand lightly on the Queen's shoulder. With a sputter of confused rage, he ran from the doorway, and down the hall, leaving Mr. Gold behind him to lean on his cane and lift an eyebrow.

"Carry on, ladies." Mr. Gold said, taking a long last look and then shutting the door behind him.

"I should go find Snow." Emma murmured. "Then again, as long as I'm next to you, what can she really hurt?"

A resounding shriek down the corridor made both women pull apart again and race to find James and Gold, grabbing their coats as they ran.

* * *

An unseemly display greeted Regina, Emma, James and a barely-suppressing-his-laughter Mr. Gold. Snow, dressed completely in Hook's leather trenchcoat and jodhpurs, was sat atop his back as he raced around the room on all fours, neighing like a horse, jerking his head a the makeshift bridle one of them had fashioned from a long white scarf.

"Zounds and Zooks, thus shall all ye pirate kings bow before Dark Snow, the Pirate Queen!" cried Snow, an eyepatch obscuring one smiling eye. Hook had started wheeling around at the sound of james' unmanly outburst and now he was awkwardly getting to his feet. Snow, still oblvious, thwacked his bottom with her hand, almost toppling off his back. "Whooooa my stallion, whoooa…"

"Snow…" James' eyes were deeply troubled. "What's the meaning of this? Why are you- what are you-?

In an instant Snow realized what was going on, snapping off the eyepatch and tearing the large-brimmed pirate's hat from her head, its proud once-ostrich feathers swiping at the floor.

"James- oh my goodness-" she looked down at herself, in Hook's clothes, and then at Hook, as though suddenly aware of what was going on. "This is so inappropriate! What am I doing? I don't even like him or find him sexually appealing- I'm so, so sorry james! Believe me, it did not get past swapping clothes and riding him around the room like a horsey-"

James shook his head and sadly backed from the room, leaving Regina and Emma standing in the doorway. Regina crossed her arms and shook her head.

"Damn that's as dark soul." She said, her eyes tearing into Snow. "And a dirty, nasty, kinky little soul to boot. Two boots, actually."

Tears in her eyes, Snow stepped out of Hook's tremendous slouchy boots that she had been wearing.

"Emma-" she started, her shaking hands rising to her face. "Please trust me, its not what you think."

"Wait a minute-" Emma cried. "Who's steering the boat?"

Just then they all gave a lurch as the ship bucked and heaved. It had run aground something- something huge.


End file.
